The Maple Leaf Lounge

And because we haven't talked enough about Tim Hortons in this thread.... Has anyone tried the Omelette bites? I tried them last week, and I thought they'd be more like Quiche, they're in fact more like a pure omelette and of much higher quality than what you get in their breakfast sandwiches. I had the Cheddar & Jalapeno, and they were quite tasty. These are actually a brilliant option for those on a low-carb diet, wanting to avoid eating bread as much as possible. I think more fast-food outlets need options like these.

And while I'm at it, one of my peeves with Tim Hortons over the years are their cups. They're quite thin. I really wish they'd have insulated cups, as anything that's piping hot can be way too much to handle with those cups. They've upgraded their lids some time ago, now it's time to update the cups.

 

October 22nd can't come quick enough.

"Alexa mute tv" is become very common here.

trudeau's been a disappointment and I don't like scheer (who claims to have a plan but so did the cylons).

the tories dodged a bullet when they rejected bermier as leader. had that guy won, trudeau would have admited to taking a bribe from snc and romped in.

Finally from calls the wife has been getting at work, some people have a problem differentiated between the mpp and mp.

 

^ I love those pumpkin spice muffins!

 

pumpkin spice is everywhere - bleech.

But the wife wants some some smile cookies. This year the money is going to a local organisation that runs a centre for kids with disabilities where she was one of the first through in the mid 70s.

 

I'm not all that fond of the Pumpkin Spice products, other than the Muffin maybe. Oh, I did get a Smile cookie yesterday too

 

Some conversations have happened, and they were full of vitriol so I decided to take my election comments to other sites.

I post on CBC.ca every day, and am composing a very long post on another forum, since enough people have asked about the conservative parties we've had... which requires a history lesson to explain.

There are also questions about coalition governments and a bizarre couple of posts by a lesbian member who went on a rant about how ineffective minority governments are. So I'm pointing out that the Canadian flag, Canada Pension Plan, Medicare, decriminalization of homosexuality, and same-sex marriage were all brought in during minority governments - the first four under Lester B. Pearson, in the 1960s when the NDP supported the Liberals and Pierre Trudeau was the Minister of Justice (I'm old enough to remember Trudeaumania in 1968). Same-sex marriage was brought in in 2005, when Paul Martin was PM.

It's actually when we get overwhelming majority governments that things tend to get <m>ucked up. Just think back to all the things Harper couldn't do when he had minority governments that he finally did when he got a majority. One of those was the UnFair Elections Act... which is still messing up people in the target demographics.

How's this for messed-up election rules? I'm a physically disabled voter with mobility issues that prevent me from easily accessing a polling station and I absolutely will not trust Canada Post with my ballot. I qualify for an in-home special ballot.

In 2015 I had one hell of a time making the Returning Officer understand this. She asked a series of impertinent questions she had no right to ask, and then said I'd have to get someone to vouch for me. So after trying and failing to find anyone qualified to do this (my neighbor lady didn't mind vouching for me, but refused to register to vote so that was that - the person doing the vouching has to be eligible to vote at the same polling station the disabled voter would vote at if they weren't disabled). And get this: Harper did away with vouching for homeless people, effectively disenfranchising them, but required vouching for disabled people in their own homes.

So I called the campaign office of the person I intended to vote for... and he didn't even know that in-home ballots were a thing (this is something that Elections Canada makes no attempt to tell anyone about unless you happen to count mentioning it in Chapter 12.12.1 of the Elections Officers Manual pertaining to people who don't vote the regular way). He did ask one of his workers who lived in this district to help me, though, and it's thanks to her persistence and willingness to tell off the Returning Officer that I finally got to vote.

Fast-forward to this year... and the vouching bullshit is still there. The reason this is so stupid for in-home special ballot voters is this: Vouching is for people who don't have any of the proper forms of ID and/or can't provide an address. To require vouching for someone who can't get this service without proper ID and who is clearly voting in their own home is nothing short of a dictionary full of synonyms for "utter stupidity."

The next bit of bullshit makes me absolutely livid. This is new this time, and I would really like to know what moron came up with it. In short, I was denied my right to a secret ballot.

The way in-home special ballots work is that an Elections Canada team comes to the disabled voter's home. The ballot is the same as the mail-in kind, and instead of marking an "X" next to the candidate's name, you have to write the candidate's name down on the ballot, and seal that envelope and insert it in another envelope with your signature that states you've voted so your name can be crossed off the list at the actual polling station (one of the checks against voting twice).

Or at least that's how it worked in 2015. The way it happens this time is that Elections Canada doesn't give a damn what your disability is. You are assumed to be unable to read or write. The Elections Canada workers read the list of candidates to you. You're not allowed to read them for yourself. AND THEN YOU ARE REQUIRED TO TELL THE ELECTIONS CANADA WORKERS WHO YOU'RE VOTING FOR AND THEY WRITE THE NAME ON THE BALLOT FOR YOU. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WRITE THE NAME YOURSELF. Not even if you're perfectly able to read and write.

When I objected to this, I was told, "That's the rules." I asked who I should contact to make a complaint and they handed me a large piece of paper labeled "Incident Report" and was told I could write out my complaint and they would take it with them to the Returning Officer (in what universe does it make sense that I can write out my own complaint about not being allowed to write my choice of candidate on the ballot?).

I asked them this very thing, and they oh-so helpfully offered to write it for me. I told them, "You don't have the time to wait while I do this, because it's going to be long enough for an essay." They said they couldn't leave the paper with me, but we compromised: They took down my contact information on the report form and said I could email the Returning Officer with my comments, they'd print it out, and attach it to the report form.

So that's what I did, pointing out the sections of the Elections Canada website that state voting in Canada is by secret ballot, which I wasn't allowed to do, the nonsense of having to be vouched for in my own home, and that I understood that the business of reading the list of candidates to the voter and writing the name on the ballot makes sense if the voter is blind or paralyzed or has some other disability that prevents reading/writing. But if that's not the case, the disabled voter should have the choice to ask for this kind of help, and if they don't need it, that decision should be respected.

When I objected to this earlier, the woman at the Returning Officer chirped, "Well, it is a secret ballot - it's a secret between the three of you." Um... no. It's not. And while they showed me the ballot to prove they wrote down the name I wanted, it's still unacceptable for them to know it at all. And they went into this song and dance that my actual ballot would be separated from the envelope with my name on it, so the ballot would not be connected with me, but I told them that's not the issue. I used to be a Deputy Returning Officer in the '80s and '90s and the basic procedures haven't changed. I know I can trust the people counting the votes. I just object to the fact that I was required to reveal my choice to anybody, period.

When they arrived at my place and said they were going to read me the list of candidates, I told them, "Don't bother." I had the Elections Canada website on my laptop, on the page for my riding. I pointed to the list on that page, and said, "You don't have to read me anything. That's the list right there, and I can read it for myself." And when they wanted me to tell them the name, I handed them a piece of paper. I told them that I'd prefer to write it on the ballot myself, but since I wasn't allowed to, I'd written it down anyway - and they could just copy that.

I did get my objections sent to the Returning Officer, who emailed back to say he agreed with me that it didn't make sense to have to be vouched for in my own home, when I had proper ID and that he understood my frustration over not having any choice of marking the ballot myself. He said he would pass my comments along to Elections Canada.

In the meantime, I've been spreading the word on CBC.ca about disabled voters' rights (as I did in 2015) and explaining some things that new Canadians don't know or new voters (kids just turning 18) don't understand. Some of my home care nurses aren't citizens yet (they're from the Philippines) so they're asking lots of questions about how it all works and how I decide on who to vote for. It'll still be a few years before they're allowed to vote, but it's good to see the interest. The apathy from Canadian-born citizens is appalling.

It should be entertaining to see what shenanigans might get pulled. There were plenty in 2015, including a poll supervisor who decided not to bother opening the polling station until 11 am rather than 8 am, the supervisor who ordered the Canadian flag flying outside to be taken down because it "might influence voters to vote Liberal" (the polling station was in a school), and the one who threatened to fire any of the workers wearing a maple leaf or flag lapel pin unless they removed them (2015 was the 50th anniversary of our flag). Apparently in 2011, a poll supervisor kicked a scrutineer out because her hair was dyed red (obviously intended to influence people to vote Liberal, right? The joke was on the supervisor, once it was revealed that she'd booted out the scrutineer who was working on behalf of the Conservatives.)

At least this is one election when I'll turn on the TV when the polls close here and not know who actually won. Mind you, the rules have changed now as far as revealing results in time zones where the polls haven't closed yet. The internet age means it's impossible to prevent influencing voters in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones because we'll already know the results from the other three time zones. On the news tonight, the anchors were saying that it might actually come down to British Columbia this time.

Not an American. We did have one modern-era PM born in the UK (John Turner).

I really don't like Trump having any possible leverage over a Canadian Prime Minister like this. Scheer should have renounced his American citizenship years ago. Actually, he should have renounced his Canadian citizenship and moved to the U.S. since his attitudes are more like theirs.

Some cities are offering free transit today, so more low-income people might vote. My city is, but at first they said that the disabled transit service was exempt from the free rides. I called City Hall and told them this wasn't fair, that disabled people vote, too, and some did take the Action Bus to the polling station. If regular transit was free, the Action Bus should be free as well.

I'm happy to say that's one argument with City Hall that I won. Not that I need it myself since I've already voted, but it might help some other people.

As for who I hope will win... yikes. Somebody, please build a time machine so we can go back enough years to make sure Jack Layton never got cancer and died. If he was still alive, he's the only one I'd definitely want to be the Prime Minister.

My predictions: Unless the people who responded to the polls were lying, it will be a minority government. Who it will be in favor of, I have no idea. I'm really hoping that if the Bloc gains seats, it will be at the expense of the Conservatives, rather than the Liberals or NDP. A Liberal minority, supported by the NDP is what I'm hoping for.

As for specific candidates... please let Jody Wilson-Raybould get tossed off her extremely self-entitled high horse. I can't stand her, and that constant whining from her family that any time anyone says something negative about her, they're obviously a racist/colonizer. Why can't we dislike her just because she did a lousy job of coming up with legislation regarding MAiD? Or that it's unethical to record phone calls without the knowledge of the person on the other end of the line? Or how about her sitting on files pertaining to wrongfully convicted prisoners for months, when her successor dealt with them inside of a week? When I read about that, I had to wonder if the affected prisoners were native or non-native.

 

well the concern was the liberals would loose seats in the Maratimes but they seem to be doing okay.

Be interesting to see how it went after the tories parachuted george canyon into Nova Scotia ridding (central nova) Sure he grew up there has been living in Alberta for years.

/* edit */

george canyon can stick to country music as he won't be going to Ottawa.

 

I'm curious to see if Adam van Koeverden can unseat Lisa Raitt. She's been extremely condescending toward him, as though gold medalist Olympians (in kayak) are just dumb brutes. I guess the hypocrisy of the Conservatives running Sylvie Frechette (gold-medalist in syncronized swimming) is different.

 

Yeah, until the all-leaders debate happened, I was honestly quite torn. Still was up until a few days ago, to be honest. The problem is, and I'm sure this is true for many regions, other than the incumbents, there haven't really been any candidates that have stood out. Many of them are at it for the first time and haven't proven themselves, and then there's also a problem of a lack of platform. Our local NDP candidate for instance, is a total blank slate, not having released any info on what they would plan to do. I find that irritating. You're out there representing us for a major party, and you just assume people should vote for you ... because? I find that idea unsettling.

Anyway, as the votes come rolling in, it seems like our Liberal incumbent Paul Lefebvre might be getting re-elected.

 

be interesting to see what happens with the provincial fights against the federal carbon tax.

ford in Ontario said he would drop the fight if the liberal won the election so we know have to see if he keeps the commitment or continues to piss away millions of dollars on the legal challenge.

I suspect the kenney in alberta will keep up the fight but then he's a climate Neanderthal.

 

Oh, lovely. JWR was elected. At least if she stays an independent, she can't do any more damage.

Huh. Somebody composed a civil tweet from Trump, congratulating Trudeau. He couldn't possibly have come up with that himself.

Lisa Raitt is such a classy Reformacon. When she was interviewed she couldn't muster up even a token "congratulations to my opponent" (Adam van Koeverden). Seems she took her seat for granted and went out to campaign for other candidates in other ridings, while taking time out to sneer at van Koeverden for speaking up for public schools (Raitt's kids go to private schools, so she went around whining that he had called her a bad parent).

 

Oh, it happened. This is even more mind-croggling than last time, when the Returning Officer - after I informed her what forms of ID I would be using - decided to ask me if I'd access my online banking account and let the EC workers see my current bank statement "to verify your address."

I told her an emphatic NO, I'd already told her which IDs I would use, they were valid according to the List of 39 IDs, and I absolutely would not show them any of my financial documents. The rule last time was that the EC workers took a photo of my IDs, so there was no way in hell that I was going to allow them to take a picture of my bank statement!

This is something that must never happen again. Some of the people I've mentioned this to in RL have been appalled. The manager of my building has the attitude of "but you liked that they came to your suite, though..." as if that makes up for everything. It absolutely doesn't.


Well, the leaders' speeches were awful. WTF possessed all three of them to go on stage at the same time?